I saw this story on NECN recently. The company manufactures a special type of fencing used for tennis courts, horse paddocks and protecting gardens from pesky critters looking to eat your crops. Since Duncan started writing a blog about what customers can do with his product – appropriately titled “The Fence Post” – his sales leads have increased over 800%!

Duncan has done three really smart things with this blog:

1) He writes about ways customers can use his product, which is a very effective soft-sell technique.
2) He positions himself as a thought leader on a particular niche subject. This establishes trust between potential customers and Louis Page Inc., i.e., “if they know this much about fencing, I’m willing to bet they sell a quality product.”
3) He has established a direct line of communication with current and potential customers. This line allows him to answer questions and showcase the potential of his company’s products.

Don’t get fenced in by limiting thoughts – the more specific your product, the better your blog is likely to perform.

Jeremy Garland
Don’t Fence Me In

Jeremy Garland
Marketing ROI Home Schooler

Since my initial logo for this blog has stacks of c-notes in the upper right hand corner, I thought a post on how best to make money off a blog was appropriate. After all, as much as I love trading the natural rays of the sun and actual human interaction for the artificial tan I’m getting from the light from my computer screen, it would be nice to have an income stream (or even a trickle) from sharing my thoughts on Marketing ROI.

Copyblogger has a couple of encouraging posts on this topic. Here is a post about smart monetization of your blog from Brian Clark that doesn’t involve third-party services such as AdSense.  I also enjoyed Sonia Simones’ related post of Why You Can’t Make Money Blogging – her response to a question at a seminar she gave recently was “Guess I’ll give it all back then.”